For those of you who have followed this story with any amount of interest, as I have, this is one of the most monumental decisions in the history of sports. I'm going to address two issues that have to do with the incredible scandal that has taken place at this school over the last 12 months. I hope many of you take these cases as seriously and voice your displeasure over the atrocities that were done to these children under the watch of the Penn State Athletic and Academic Administrations.
The Paterno Statue
My personal view is that they should not remove the statue, but instead add to it a life size statue of Gerry Sandusky performing "unspeakable acts" on the current statue of Joe Paterno. I feel this would adequately embarass the legend of Joe Paterno and in a somewhat sick way, gratify the "revenge factor" desires of those that Paterno allowed Sandusky to brutalize over his many years at Penn State.
However, since this is not realistic, I heard an actual solution that seems to be the best solution I have heard yet. This solution would remove the Paterno statue from the football stadium and place it in their "Hall of Trophies". This would remove it from immediate public view, and add a plaque to be placed in front of the statue commemorating the many victories, while also mentioning and giving due respect to the many child victims of the Paterno/Sandusky era.
As a corellary, I'd demand the court issue a large portion of the retirement trust of Joe Paterno to be used to set up a college/trust/foundation fund specifically for the victims of Gerry Sandusky.
Penn State Football Program
It is my opinion that the Penn State Football program should be given a modified 'Death Penalty'. The corruption in the administration of not only the Penn State Athletic Department, but the University Presidents' office as well cannot go unpunished here. The penalty should fit the crime. The lack of insitutional control began in 1998 when Paterno and other members of the administration at Penn State knew about the investigation into Sandusky's personal life, and upon learning that it was true, kept it under wraps and essentially forced Sandusky into retirement. However, instead of banishing Sandusky from the premises, they continued to allow him to have access to their facilities, which he used to abuse more of his victims from that time in 1998 to this past season ending in 2012.
The penalty I would impose would be a suspension of Penn State's football program for the exact amount of time that they refused to protect the rights of the children that were in and around their football program. A 'Death Penalty' of sorts for a period of 14 years. This would cost Penn State in the Billions of dollars in revenue, and give a solid warning to any other institutions giving carte blanche to their head football coaches.
These two 'penalties' will not give justice to the families affected by this disaster, but it will let them know that football and legends are not more important than the lives of those children that were affected by this. If the NCAA, which supposes it to be an organization that strives to create better students and leaders of tomorrow through college athletics, does not support its own message by condemning an organization that fostered an environment that allowed the principles it supposes to stand on to be trampled, what kind of organization is it?
Get used to the Big 10 without Penn State football for the time being, for if the NCAA does the right thing we shouldn't see it for a decade and a half.
I am a huge fan of your first idea. Would love to see new statue with "unspeakable acts" being done. Haha. Even better would be to move those statues into the showers of the locker room. That way it could be more private, just like the acts were kept.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, it is an awful thing that was done. I feel for the victims and the families. I loathe people that perform acts like those. Sandusky is a creep that deserves the worst punishment available. Anyone involved in the cover up should be punished also, but with criminal punishment, not sports punishment...
I am against giving the "death penalty" to PSU football. Assuming everybody involved in the scandal is gone or will be fired (or dead), it isn't right to punish innocent players and fans. Now, maybe they should be penalized by taking all their profit from their football team the next couple season and donating it to the victims and their families, along with organizations that fight situations like these; but not the death penalty.
For me I look at the bigger issue of punishing those responsible. When Jon Calipari cheated at UMASS and Memphis, I hated how those schools got punished but Calipari didn't. Calipari should have been punished big time, not the schools he left behind in his wake. That's how I view this. Don't punish the innocent who happen to be at PSU now but knew nothing about this. Punish only those responsible (through prison time and fines, not to mention ruining their image and legacies).
Andrew
Frankly I don't care about the players and fans. It was the institution as a whole that failed to exercise proper institutional control, and create an environment where raping young boys is not accepted. Penn State as a whole university, from the top down, did not foster a culture where this was viewed a paramount over the positive image of the the university or the football program. The football program was put first, and the children and their families put second. In order for the NCAA to get this right, that has to be reversed, and punish the school for doing it that way in the first place. The most appopriate, and most hurtful punishment to the University, is to suspend their football program. Comparing the Calipari situation to this is not even worth mentioning. "Punishing only those responsible" in this case includes punishing the University who allowed it to almost exclusively happen on their campus.
ReplyDeleteSanctions came down today... $60 million fine for University (equal to annual football revenue). 4 year ban for postseason. Down 20 scholarships a year too during that time. And wins vacated dating to 1998, including bowl games and conference championships. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteMy reflection is that I don't mind the fine... In fact I would have been okay to fine them their revenue over the next 3-5 years. I don't mind Paterno's vacated wins, because he needed to be punished somehow, but he's dead so only way was to punish legacy like this. I hate though how innocent players and staff now get hurt the most for something they didn't even know happened.
Overall though I am okay with it and they will get through this.
Andrew